My comments concern the production and actors, or their characters, in lower-budget, nearly forgotten, American movies which have not totally held up well over time. My conversational writing style will include details which I find interesting, odd or funny. Generally, plots are not revealed, only how the characters fit into the plot or how they equate with real life as opposed to Hollywood's thinking.

Saturday, April 15, 2017

BOMBERS B-52 (1957)

This CinemaScope
production is Warner Brother's answer to the more successful and
realistic 1955 release, “Strategic Air Command,” filmed in
Paramount’s VistaVision format. It was superior in cinematography
and for a script of accuracy by Bernie Lay, an airman himself who
came to the table with first-hand details. Victor Young's opening
male ensemble song and dynamic flying score captures the United
States Air Force grandeur during this period. Highly renowned
composer, Leonard Rosenman, on the other hand, wrote a soap opera
opening theme (aside from the few exciting opening measures) which
goes against the bold, two-dimensional title graphically spelled out
on the screen. He does write a dynamic B-52 theme which I address
below. Some big bucks spent here and it shows. The film gets high
points for location filming on an active SAC base and the ground
camera crew's work is to be applauded. The draw of Natalie Wood, Karl
Malden and Efrem Zimbalist Jr.―all on career up-swings―helps it escape the B-movie category. Barely.

The film gets low points
for Irving Wallace's soap opera screenplay which I already warned you
about. Perhaps because of this, there are some authentic USAF
procedural details which are ignored. Another low point is an
over-the-top performance (once again) by Malden. He can be hard to
stomach in this bull-headed, self-centered character. His role as the over protective father and devoted husband dominates the
movie, despite Wood receiving top billing. The sequence of antsy
Malden awaiting Wood's pre-dawn return from a date with Zimbalist is
a bit embarrassing. He already had a narrow-minded assumption of
Zimbalist from the Korean War. The scenes where he paces the floor, blowing off
steam to his wife, Marsha Hunt, while downing eight cans of beer―between trips to the bathroom―is humorless. A big dose of suspended
disbelief will be necessary when considering the twenty-year age gap
between the real Zimbalist and Wood. Yet it works on screen if you
mentally subtract and add five years, respectively.

Zimbalist, in his first major screen
debut, and Wood were contracted to Warner Bros. It would have been
unlikely to have replaced either. As many film buffs know, Warner's
original choice was Tab Hunter. This would have solved the age gap
but probably made it implausible to believe he had achieved the rank
of Lt. Colonel at such a young age. Given a larger role, maybe the
better solution would have been for Wood to have had a romance with
handsome co-pilot, Stuart Whitman, with only ten years between them.
Just let Malden and Zimbalist come to terms on the B-52 story line.
Curious to consider, too, three up-and-coming actresses cutting the
age gap about a decade: Anne Francis, Tippi Hedren or Elaine Stewart.
Either would have eliminated the “stay at home” daughter premise
and in turn saved us from Malden's clichéd father performance.

If you are an aviation
enthusiast of this era, the B-52, as was the B-36 in the “SAC”
movie, will be your highlight and main reason for remembering the
movie. It is a visual aviation history lesson of the USAF's formative
years. The takeoffs and flybys are exciting, if not spectacular. The
banter between tanker and bomber pilots is fun in one sequence.
Zimbalist's “travelogue” comments and the accompanying back
screen projected visuals during their twenty-four hour mission should
have been left on the editing floor, however. Unless one has piloted
Boeing's bomber, the interior mockups appear to be well done.

Rosenman
wrote a majestic theme for
brass and strings in a march-like rhythm. Though it takes nearly half
the film before we see a B-52, the theme, along with an elevated
camera position, is all goose-bumpy. The plane casting long, early
morning shadows making for an impressive debut. Once the B-52 is
front and center we hear the theme frequently. The theme should have
debuted with this sequence. But just prior, it is
hilariously misplaced during a sequence of Malden riding a ubiquitous
scooter several hundred feet. With the gallant theme blasting away,
we expect him to end his ride next to a B-52 as it fills the screen.
Instead, he simply stops at the base barracks after putt putting past
the base gate. Piloting a scooter is just not very majestic.

While blowhard dad is in
the base hospital recuperating from a bail-out injury, Wood, sobbing,
apologizes for being only nineteen and confesses she is no longer
embarrassed by her dad's occupation. Planes are keen. Wood's constant
crying is a bit tedious, but she and her father finally have an
understanding. We assume Wood will marry, move out of the house and
Malden will cut back on the beer volume. To end the film, Wood looks
reward from Zimbalist's T-Bird, finally understanding the point of
the eleven-ship B-52 formation roaring overhead. A large formation
which would realistically never be done in combat.

I have always found the
film’s title a bit strange. Not normal speak. As if stating,
“Automobiles Ford.” The alternate title used in some outlets, “No
Sleep Till Dawn,” makes more sense for this flying soap opera. The
title would have covered the airmen's twenty-four hour missions and
Malden's twenty-four hour angst over his daughter's dates until dawn.
For Paramount’s “Strategic Air Command”―Air Command
Strategic―recruitment went up about 25% because of its inspiring
screenplay. I doubt the air force got that much of a jump following
this movies’ premiere. Who wants to enlist and be supervised by a
character like Malden? Most would gladly choose flight engineer,
Harry Morgan.